


Oh, Catastrophe

by mr-im-fine (witch_lit)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron's at it again, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Band Fic, Concerts, F/M, Homophobia, Identity Reveal, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 04:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16779505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witch_lit/pseuds/mr-im-fine
Summary: Aaron and Katelyn are at a concert and Aaron can't shake the feeling that the drummer is familiar.





	Oh, Catastrophe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paleromantic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleromantic/gifts), [Mellsibeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellsibeth/gifts).



> I went to a Crown the Empire show and basically the singer has recently become my Nicky hc so this followed naturally. The song used is Machines. Also I kind of accidentally referenced spy kids 2 :o

The hum of a singer starts the opening band. Behind him, Katelyn takes a breath and hugs him closer to her chest. This is the band she likes, then. A singer enters the stage, bathed in low light.

We hold to the lies to feel free

We’re shackled by smiles, so empty

The rest of the band creeps onto the stage, a tall guitarist and a bassist almost as short as Aaron. Their faces are both a mess, one made of tattoos and the other of scars. This isn’t the sort of band Aaron thought his cheerleader girlfriend would be into, but then, she is dating him.

The singer sounds almost sad as he continues, the slow moving blue and blue casting him mostly as a silhouette.

Insisting that we’re all too tired to light the fire

And shake the Earth

_Dun Dun_

The drums hit heavy and hard, a contrast to the singer’s sweet voice. He’s swaying, despite the buildup of instruments melding into a symphony around him. His hand comes to the microphone but doesn’t quite touch, a God afraid of his own creation. Aaron thinks he could be into this music, even if he just came for Katelyn. Katelyn, who’s singing along behind him, her chin just above his head.

The song gets to the hook, a scream ripping from the chest of the small bass player. It floods the room as the lights shimmer, radiating out like beacons. The singer shimmies across the stage, welcoming the audience to dance along despite the music being post-hardcore in genre. His movements are a hair too jerky. On stage for less than a minute and Aaron can already tell the frontman is drunk, or at least, on his way.

The song closes to hoots from the audience. Aaron’s not surprised: the pit had opened during the first song, despite the band not being the headliner. Aaron gets it. If he weren’t here for Katelyn, he might use it as a chance to thrash around with some like minded people.

The singer takes a gulp from on of the water bottles brought on stage by the crew before the set. Still holding the bottle in hand, he talks to the crowd.

“Cool,” he says, then turns his back to take another sip of water and return the bottle to an amp next to the drummer. Aaron’s eyes slide over to the drummer, then fix there.

The drummer is all tattooed arms peeking out from black armbands and a t shirt with the sleeves cut off. He’s broad, but that’s not what gets Aaron’s attention. Rather, the shock of blond hair and eerily familiar features set off something in the back of his head. Where does he know this guy from?

The next song starts, a heavy drumline that puts the drummer in motion. Aaron will figure it out when the crowd stops jumping around him. He’s only five feet tall, so any upward movement by the people in front of him severely limits his vision. Aaron enjoys the music for the next couple of minutes, nodding along and folding his hand in Katelyn’s as she sings along. He catches her eye at some point and returns her smile.

The singer banters with the crowd between songs. He introduces himself as Nicky, introduces the others too but Aaron can’t be bothered. He jokes with the audience about how a couple had propositioned to him the day before in Kansas city. Only people you wouldn’t want to be with proposition those kinds of things, Nicky laments. As an audience member hoots, Nicky raises his eyebrow.

“You’re kind of crusty yourself, man,” Nicky jokes. “Ah, whatever, I’m not drunk enough for this.”

They play another song. Aaron doesn’t recognize it, but he’s not surprised. He’s only heard some of these songs in passing from Katelyn, who’s lighting up behind him. It must be a romantic song, because halfway through she pulls his chin up for a kiss. It’s definitely not chaste as he touches her stomach, but she pulls away, her lips tightening from her grin. Aaron’s okay with that.

The song ends, Katelyn’s front pressed to his back. Nicky, seemingly unhappy with his state of inebriation, starts heckling the bartender.

“I know it’s a cash bar, but what do you got? Do you guys want me to get drunk on stage?” The crowd hollers, though Aaron couldn’t care less.

Nicky laughs. “Yeah, a cash bar. Fuckin’ outdated, when we got Apple pay.”

Nicky seems to let it go as the next song starts. His actual job to do, Aaron supposes. The music seems almost to leak anticipation, the base dirty as the short red head begins to play. His hair is sweat slicked to his face, some of it hanging as he looks down.

Nicky starts to sing again, the drums erupting. Aaron still can’t place the drummer, and it’s starting to bother him. He’s interrupted from his ruminations by Nicky’s grin as someone reaches across the barrier between the crowd and security to hand him a shot.

He holds the shot protectively to his chest as he sings on, and someone in the crowd passes him a five dollar bill. Aaron’s not really sure what’s going on, but the guitarist with the tattooed face comes forward. Nicky holds his shot and the microphone in the same hand. With the other hand he pushes the five dollar bill into the guitarists mouth, who holds it with his teeth. He grabs another shot from the audience, the Fresnel beam lighting it up gold.

Nicky feeds the second shot to the guitarist. It spills over the ill-lit green bill into the guitarists mouth. He swallows it all with vigor, stepping back once he’s finished his drink. Aaron tries not to think about just how disgusting that is, but for the most part fails.

Nicky holds onto his shot as he sings, but as soon as the song’s over gulps down the shot like alcohol is going out of business. “You have no idea how hard it is to hold onto a shot for an entire song,” he jokes. The man is obviously a whirlwind. They play another song. “Anyway, we’ll be at our merch stand until the next band goes on. Maybe you guys can come and give me more shots!”

They play out, finishing the set to dimming lights. At the stage lights fade, Aaron watches Nicky badger both the bassist and then the guitarist into complex handshakes. Each one is individual, and when Nicky starts to leave the stage, the strings player push their fists together in their own unique pattern and grin at each other. They leave with the straight faced drummer as the stage goes black.

The crowd roars. For a moment Aaron wonders if he’s going to get hearing damage before he calms down. He stands there with Katelyn for a moment before the crush of the crowd lessens.

“They were good,” Aaron says.

Katelyn grins. “They were fun. Come on, I want to meet them at the merch stand.”

“Why?” Aaron asks. “You’re not going to buy anything. You hate t-shirts.”  
Katelyn pouts. The way it pulls at her freckles is always cute, though Aaron’s not going to let her in on that fact anytime soon. He thinks she might already know, anyway. “I want to get a picture! The singer seemed interesting.”  
“Seemed gay,” Aaron says.

Katelyn whacks his arm. “The drummer kind of looked like you.”

Aaron scrunches his eyebrows together. He doesn’t look like… that. “No he doesn’t.”

Katelyn rolls her eyes. “You two have, like, the same face. I would know.”

Aaron prickles. “Fine, then go see your new boyfriend.”

Katelyn heaves a long-suffering sigh. “I didn’t mean it like that, asshole.”  
It’s Aaron’s turn to roll his eyes. He takes Katelyn’s hand in his and turns to the slightly less condensed crowd.

Katelyn has to go to the bathroom, so they stop there before going to the merch table (it’ll take a while for them to show up anyway, she reasons. Aaron has to remind her that she’s the one who wanted to go).

When they finally make it to the merch table, Nicky is sitting on it, laughing with a few shots around him. The guitarist is pulling back another shot as well, talking to a fan on the other side of the table. Behind them the red-headed bassist sits on a table full of number-coded shirts. On one of those shitty folding black plastic chairs is the drummer.

“You,” Aaron says, pointing at the drummer in surprise. It catches his attention, an eyebrow raising. “You have my face.”

  



End file.
